1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of high performance computer graphics systems and, more particularly, to sample-to-pixel filtering systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the demand for high performance graphics systems that can render complex three-dimensional (3D) objects and scenes realistically has increased substantially. Modem high performance graphics systems also support special effects such as anti-aliasing, texturing, shading, fogging, alpha-blending, and specular highlighting. The increase in demand for better performance is at least in part due to new applications such as computer-generated animation for motion pictures, virtual reality simulators/trainers, and interactive computer games. These new applications place tremendous computational loads upon graphics systems. Modem computer displays have also improved and have a significantly higher pixel resolution, greater color depth, and are able to display more complex images with higher refresh rates than earlier models. Consequently, modern high performance graphics systems incorporate graphics processors with a great deal of complexity and power that generate multiple samples per pixel, and the color value of one pixel may be the result of many calculations involving filtering hundreds of samples.
With each new generation of graphics system, there is more image data to process, the processing is more complex, and there is less time in which to process it. This need for more processing power is being met with the combination of more hardware resources and more efficient processes.